Combined police nipper and twister.



l. J. MURPHY.

COMBINED POLICE NIPPER AND TWISTER.

APPLICATION FILED Dwz?. w15.

1,199,100. A Patentedsept. 26,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

I. L MURPHY. COMBINED POLICE NIIPER AND TWISTER.

APPLICATION FILED DE02?. 1915.

1 ,1 99,1 00. Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES QPATEN'I OFFICE.

.Tenn ir. MURPHY, oF Aricavi/2101i, CONN-Eamonn `Specfication of Iiettersllatent. Patelited :1916.

To all whom it maa/ concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN QI. MURPHY, `a citizen of' the United States, residi'ng iat Norwich, in the fcour'rty of New London, in the Stat-'e *of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Combined Pol-ice Nippers l'and Twisters, of which the following is a specification, ref*- `e'rence being had 'to the 'accompanying drawings.

This invention 'hals "for its object the improvement of leaders of the type used 'by police and other officers, for controlling and leading refractory criminals; my purpose being to provide a leader which, while being reasonably humane, may be readily used bythe oiiicer with such "painful *eti-ect on the prisoners wrist or ankle that the prisoner will be easily controlled.

Heretofore, so'called nippel-s have been used, which may be clasped upon a criminals wrist as, for example, the nipper patented by me July 20, 1915, under No. 1,147,423, and, in other instances, so-called twisters,7 constructed of chain or cord have been used. Said nippers, however, when used under the excitement of an arrest, are likely to be closed so tightly upon the criminals wrist as to cut and lacerate the flesh, and the said chain or cord twisters, in order to be effective, must be twisted upon themselves several turns, which is, sometimes, neither convenient or possible in the hurry o1 making an arrest.

My present device is of such construction and operation that it may be instantly closed upon a wrist and used as a nipper or twister, or as both nipper and twister, by a single quick movement of the oliicers hand.

My invention is clearly illustrated in the annexed drawings, Figure l being a plan view of a combined nipper and twister embodying the improvements, which I have briefly described; the device being shown open and ready for use in this view. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the said nipper closed for use as a nipper. Fig. 3 is like the Fig. Q excepting that the device is adjusted to be used as a nipper and twister. Fig. 4 is an edge view of the device when used as a nipper only, and Fig. 5 is a like view showing the chain twisted, as in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detached view of the handle member. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of that portion of the body member upon which I have mounted a latch and i Safety bolt the "said notched stem ter lthe purpose 'of latcliing the 'body 'and stem iin ifxed :relation to each other when the device is adjusted to its operative position. The Vinner end 'portion ofthe stem 14, however, is connected by chains 16 and'17 with the hinged jaws 11 SP2, :the arrangement oi1 the stein, the

'ch-airis, and the jaws being such that, when the stem is drawn outward in the body 10, the said jaws will be swung toward each other until their free ends overlap as seen in Fig. 2 of the drawings. In order to lock the device in its closed position, I have provided a latch 15, which is fulcrumed on the frame 10 at 19, the inner or concealed end of the said latch being adapted to engage the notches in the stemV 14, as apawl, and thus to prevent the accidental opening of the nipper jaws when the device is in use; the said latch being retained yieldingly in engagement with the said Stem notches by a spring 20. By simply pressing upon the exposed end of the latch, the latch may, however, be readily withdrawn from the stem notches, when the claws 11 and 12 will be automatically opened by means of springs .M -22, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings. By the same action the chains will draw the stem 14 outward as seen in said Fig. 1. It will now be understood that by drawing the stem outward, in the body 10, the chains will close the jaws 11-12 and that by releasing the said stem from the restraining action of the latch 15, the springs 21*22 will spread the jaws and set the device in its open inoperative position.

It is sometimes desirable to lock the latch in its engaged position in the stem notch, in order that the nipper may not open by accident or by the act of the prisoner, and I have therefore provided for that purpose a safety lock 23 that is slidably mounted on the body 10 and includes a milled thumbpiece section 23a, by means of which they lock may be slid lengthwise and also a bar 23h, which, when the safety-lock 23 is slid outward, (that is toward the handle 13), is moved to a position directly under the otherwise free end of latch 15, and thus blocks the said latch and prevents it from being rocked on its fulcrum. lVhen it is desired to unlatch the said latch, it is only necessary to slide the lock 23 forward a distance sulicient to move its block 28h out from its position under the end of the latch I will now describe the action of my device as a twister as well as a nipper.

The stem 14 lis loosely iitted in the body 10 and the notches extend entirely around the said stein thus makin` it possible to rock, or partially rotate, the stein as well as to slide it lengthwise in said body. The act of thus partial-ly rotating the stem operates to twist the chains and thus to swing the jaws 11-12 toward eachother and to cause the said jaws to close tighter upon the wrist of the criminal. By the same movement the chain links are caused to embed themselves in the iesh of thewrist of thecriminal, but

Copies of this patent may be obtained foi' ve cents each, by addressingv the Commissioner o1' Patents.`

not to lacerate the flesh. Thus it becomes possible and easy for the oiicei' to close the nippers onto the wrist of the criminal and,

Having thus described my invention I;

claim as 'new and wish to secure by Letters Patent: l

1. A combined nipper and twister coinprising a nipper body, jaws hinged to said 1 body, a stem slidably and rotatably mounted l in said body, and chain connections between 1 said stem and jaws.

2. A` combined nipper and twister, coinprising a nipper body, jaws hinged to said body, a stem slidably and rotatablymountsoV ed in said body, chain connections between t said stem and jaws, means for latching said jaws in their closed position, and means for lockinf the said latch in its o erative osition.

Y JOHN J. MURPHY.

Washington, D. C. 

